Remember [Book 1]

35 - Mikito

During the rest of the day, the boys were planning on figuring out how to take Shredder down. Naomi and I stayed with one another. Since Naomi didn't want to risk it, we didn't help out with the planning or much of anything. Instead, we kept to our room, chatting.

We talked about training, top side, the boys, and even hypothesizing over our forgotten lives. Both of us were sitting on the same bed, facing each other.

"How much did you think we were FBI agents," Naomi thought. "Doing top secret work with the Mutagenic stuff. We blew our cover and then they mutated us as a punishment."

I shook my head, "Then why did they leave us in an ally for everyone to find easily?" Naomi shrugged. I continued with a small smile, "No. I think we were with a traveling circus and while we were standing on top of the truck to observe the city a light knocked us out."

"Why would you want to be in a circus?" Naomi asked. "I sure wouldn't."

"Because then we'd blend in!" I stuck my arms out like I was in a balancing act. One of my hands hit the wall and I flinched, pulling it back.

Naomi gave a subtle nod. "True. But... Then you'd be good at balancing during training. And you're anything but graceful when it comes to balance training."

She smiled slyly and set an elbow in her knee. As she placed her head on her hand, I gaped at her. "That... Is... T-Totally...!" I inhaled then exhaled. "Totally true..."

My friend chuckled and straightened up again. I stuck my lip out in a pouting motion. I leaned back against the headboard and sighed. Naomi looked toward the door. Following her gaze I looked at the door as well. Nothing was there. Sounds were coming from the main room which meant the boys were probably done planning. It was relaxing time.

The two of us then got up to join the boys in the living room. Nobody said much of anything. We stayed with them until it was time for bed. The boys went to their respective rooms, while Naomi and I went to our room again.

I entered first and stretched my arms above my head. Naomi followed in after, turning on the stereo. At first it was blaring rock-like music. It made me jump. Turning to her, Naomi quickly turned the music choice while turning the volume down. Turning from rock the music choice was now light flute music.

Now sitting on my bed, I removed my bandana from my head. It sent a chill down my spine. Looking over at Naomi, she was covering up. Seconds passed and I had done the same.

The next day, we woke up and the lair was awfully quiet. The room was also empty. It took me a moment of sitting up to remember that the boys went after Shredder. Was the shipment during the day? If they were gone, then, yeah, probably. But that left where Naomi went off to. She couldn't have followed, could she? She was the one that offered to stay behind.

As I got up, I grabbed my bandana and put it on. Leaving the room, I heard music coming from the kitchen. So she didn't leave! Then why didn't she wake me up? I hopped over the couch with a light skip and walked into the kitchen with a confident gait.

Splinter was at the table when I walked in. He looked at me and smiled warmly, "Good morning, Mikito. Looks like you woke up in a swell mood." He gestured to Naomi at the stove, leaned over a book in concentration. "Naomi has offered to cook today. Hopefully when the boys return from their early mission today, they'll be hungry."

I nodded in agreement and sat down at the table. The music was coming from Naomi's T-Phone by the fridge. I looked at the pans and what they held. One was too tall to peer inside but there was steam rising from it. The other one looked like ground beef.

Without warning, Naomi's tail lashed out and curled it around one of the cabinets close to the ground near her. She opened it and pulled out a large bowl. It was dangling by her tail tip. I watched as she juggled it to the counter. She looked at it then opened a cabinet by her head. The cabinet held spices. Taking a few, Naomi then moved to a different hanging cabinet.

"What'cha making, Naomi?" I finally decided to ask.

As she held tomato paste, soup, and juice, she replied simply, "Lasagna." With a hard "g" to actually make it heard. It sounded weird. I smiled. She looked at me with a blank look, "What?"

"You say that weird," I told her. "Why?"

She shrugged and returned to her work. As she worked, I got on my T-Phone and played a game. During the time it took her to cook, Splinter got up one time to retrieve a cheesicle  out of the freezer. He snacked on it while Naomi put the lasagna together in a wide pan. I decided to get up and watch her layer it. Meat and sauce mix on bottom, just enough to cover it. Noodle. Mix again. Cheese. Noodle. Mix and cheese. Noodle. She then set it on the oven and sat down at the table.

Still the boys weren't back from their mission. Weren't they only going to take Shredder out? It wouldn't take that long to take him out, would it? Unless... It went bad. If it did, I'm glad Naomi told us to stay back for this one. Maybe we should stay away from Shredder and them for a good while? Just to make sure we're ready.

Eventually, Splinter started a small conversation. Naomi and I talked to him on a calm manner. He asked about training, our time in the lair, and if we had remembered anything. We each answered. I didn't remember anything. Naomi neither. Would we ever remember?

"Why do you think we forgot, Splinter?" I asked him. "What was so bad that we forgot who we were?"

"Amnesia is a strange concept," the rat answered me. "I think the more appropriate being to ask this question is Donatello. I do not know enough of the human brain to answer your question, Mikito."

I looked down with a small nod. It made sense. I looked back up at him and asked, "Then why do we do things like cook and sat odd things like the way Naomi says 'lasagna'.?"

"I would assume it's muscle memory," Naomi answered me. She was scrolling through something on her phone. "Or... Verbal memory. Dialect? Something."

Splinter simply nodded and I sighed. This was getting us nowhere. All I wanted was to remember who we were. Naomi and I were loaners in that sense. I set my arms in the table and crossed them to make a pillow to set my head on.

The timer Naomi set for the food went off finally after some time. She got up and retrieved an oven mitt. Getting the pan out, she set it on an oven holder and sprinkled more cheese on it. It smelled delicious. My mouth started to water as I realized how hungry I was. Such an interesting breakfast.

Within a few seconds, I heard groaning coming from the subway tunnels. I paused to make sure it was the boys instead of intruders. Soon, I heard a loud "Mikey" and relaxed. Boys were home.

As soon as they entered the toll entrance, I heard Mikey say, "What is that amazing smell?"

"It's food," Raph's voice snapped. It was closer than Mikey's. "You know, the kind that's not pizza?"

"They're cooking something not pizza related?" Mikey's whining voice piped up again. He entered the kitchen right then and cried dramatically, "What is wrong with you?"

Without missing a beat, Naomi answered simply, "I'm a lizard."

Leo walked in and chuckled a little. I noticed he was bruised up. They all were. Guess the mission didn't go as planned... He looked at the pan of food and smiled. "Looks delicious."

"Let it cool for a second," Naomi told him. She was grabbing plates down from a hanging cabinet. "Otherwise you'll burn your mouth."

Mikey sat beside me and scoffed, "We never burn our mouth with pizza!"

"Because it's delivered," Naomi looked at him. "It takes a few minutes to get here. In that time, it cools."

The plates were down and she cut the lasagna up. During that time, Splinter asked what the boys went out to do. Surprisingly, they were honest. The rat was disappointed in them, but didn't really know how to punish them. They were partially right, and partially wrong.

Naomi set pieces of lasagna on the plates and handed them out to everyone. Leo told us that Karai was also Shredder's daughter. If I was eating, I would have spit it right out. She was his daughter?! Then why did she spare us like that in the Shell Raiser?

It was a surprise, sure. I wasn't entirely sure how else to react to it. The boys caught us up on the Stealth Ship as well, that it was gone. Mikey also announced Leo ruined leprechauns for him. Everyone else shook their heads. I giggled a little. What a weird family the sewers held.

A rat father, four turtle brothers, and two forgotten girls. How much more weird could it possibly get?